WINNER = the challenger Elements Eight. You can taste the rich difference in quality. Finally, a tasty sipping spiced rum that has left the rest behind (Sailor Jerry’s, Devil’s Triangle, Captain Morgan’s, Whaler’s), but less than perfect in a Rum & Coke.

2 Years later and never too late for Round 3. This time Captain M is going up against it’s piratey competitor Whaler’s. Which one will win the booty? Which one will walk the plank? Let’s find out. R2 here and R1 here.

CM: Too thin flavoured to enjoy as a sipper, plus the alcohol detection kicks in almost from the very start. The vanilla is very faint but I must say I just noticed a peppery spiciness from the mids to finish that is decently pleasant. Tastes cheap because it is.

WH: Thicker on the palate, bringing a much more composed and complete profile. Brighter and a sharper bite at the start, while drying out by the finish. Cinnamon, cola, and nutmeg along with a bit of caramel comprise of the discernible flavours. There is medium throat heat and warmth that lingers. Flavours are muted, decent but not great.

Welcome to Round 2! Tonight we have the previous champ Captain Morgan which I liked because of its mixability, up against Devil’s triangle which brings a whole different set of spices to the Rum arena. This time it’s an equal battle of 35%’ers. Check out Round 1 here.

CM starts of watery thin, just like from what I tasted in Round 1. Flavour delivery comes in the midpalate with vanilla, cola caramel, nutmeg. It finishes with a medium top-of-mouth to the back of throat numbness. Too thin-bodied to be a sipper.

The first bottle-vs-bottle this year, let’s get more in that we did last year! Here’s one that I’ve been curious about, spiced rums. Because every distillery has their own secret blend of spices, I’d like to find out which brand I prefer in addition to evaluating their base product.

CM is very thin on the palate, just slightly thicker than water and with a bit of oil. The Captain brings forth a lot of vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, and light caramel backbone. Alcoholic heat is on the high end and goes down to the throat, leaving the top and sides of the tongue medium numb.